This blog features my weekly column called "What's up in the sky". It is published every Saturday in the Ellensburg newspaper, Daily Record (http://www.kvnews.com/). While my postings will be most accurate for Central Washington, readers throughout the northern USA may find something of use.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Saturday: Has
there ever been life on Mars? Astronomers don’t know. But the Mars Curiosity
Rover has been digging up some strong evidence that Mars was hospitable to life
in the past. At the end of 2012, the first drilling assignment for Curiosity
found clay-like minerals that form in the presence of water. In December 2013,
scientists announced the strongest evidence yet for an ancient fresh-water lake
in Gale Crater. Planetary geologist John Grotzinger said that Earth microbes
could have thrived in this lake if they were placed there. Last year, astronomers
at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile found
evidence that Mars was once had an ocean that held more water than the Arctic
Ocean and covered a greater percentage of Mars’ surface than the Atlantic Ocean
does on Earth. In brief, they came to this conclusion after analyzing the
chemical signature of light that passes through the Martian atmosphere. For
more information about this ancient ocean and the method of discovery, go to http://goo.gl/bOqD4U.
Mars is two fists held upright and at arm’s length above southwest at 8:30 p.m.

Sunday: Jupiter
is one fist above the east-southeast horizon at 10 p.m.

Monday: If
the National Enquirer was around in Galileo’s day, it may have featured the
headline: “Saturn has love handles; Opis leaves him for a much hotter starlet”.
When Galileo first observed Saturn through a telescope, he reported objects
that looked like bulges on either side of Saturn’s midsection. He was actually
seeing Saturn’s rings through less than ideal optics. Saturn is two fists above
the south horizon at 6 a.m.. The star(let) Antares is about a two fists to the
lower right of Saturn.

Tuesday: Orion
still has a prominent spot in the nighttime sky. The belt is three fists above
due southwest at 9 p.m.

Wednesday: Mercury is about one fist above the west horizon at 8 p.m. The
nearly New Moon is between Mercury and the west horizon.

Thursday: April is Global Astronomy Month (GAM).
While many astronomy experiences come from looking up, you can also experience
astronomy looking down… at pen and paper. GAM has numerous arts initiatives and
is looking for contributors. Even if you’ve never written a poem before, this
is your opportunity to express your love for astronomy in a unique way and
possibly share it with others. Go to http://astronomerswithoutborders.org/gam2017-programs/astroarts.html
for more information about the AstroPoetry and AstroArt contests.

Friday: You
need to get up early tomorrow to cheer on your favorite runners at the Yakima
River Canyon Marathon starting at 8 a.m. on Canyon Road just south of Berry
Road. So why not get a little viewing in? To symbolize the long trail of a
marathon, follow the long trail of our own Milky Way Galaxy. It seems to rise
up from the ground due south. It its highest, it is five fists above due east.
It sinks back to the ground due north. The thickest part of the Milky Way is in
the southern sky because that is the direction of the center of the galaxy.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Saturday: The
elusive Mercury is a half a fist held upright and at arms length above due west
at 7:40 p.m. The much brighter Venus is about one fist to the upper right of
Mercury.

Sunday: Mars
is two fists above due southwest at 8:30 p.m.

Monday: Look
up in the sky. It’s a plane. It’s a bird. No, it’s the vernal equinox. The
vernal equinox!? Spring starts at 3:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The first
day of spring is often called the vernal equinox. This label for the day is misleading.
The vernal equinox is actually the point in the sky where the Sun’s apparent
path with respect to the background stars (called the ecliptic) crosses the
line that divides the stars into north and south (called the celestial
equator). This point is in the constellation Pisces the fishes. At the vernal
equinox, the Sun is moving from the southern region of background stars to the
northern region. Since the Sun crosses the vernal equinox at night, tomorrow
will actually be the first full day of spring.

Because the
Earth slowly wobbles like a spinning top, the vernal equinox is slowly moving
into the constellation Aquarius. By the year 2597, the vernal equinox will
reach the constellation Aquarius and the “Age of Aquarius” will begin. Until
then, we’ll be in “the age of Pisces”.

Tuesday: The
Milky Way is pretty easy to spot on the early spring sky. Just look up.
Everything you see in the sky, including that bird that just startled you, is
in the Milky Way. But, even the path of densely packed stars in the plane of
our galaxy that look like a river of milk is easy to find. Look due south at 9
p.m. Follow the fuzzy path just to the left of the bright star Sirius two fists
above the horizon, to the right of the bright star Procyon four and a half
fists above the south horizon, through Capella six fists above the west
horizon, through W-shaped Cassiopeia three fists above the northwest horizon,
and down to due north where the bright star Deneb sits just above the horizon.

Wednesday: Astronomers are often fascinated with large objects. Planets that
could fit 1000 Earths (Jupiter). Stars that would fill up the entire inner
Solar System (Betelgeuse). Galaxies with 400 billion stars (Milky Way). But
what about the smallest objects? One of the smallest stars is Proxima Centauri,
the closest known star other than our Sun. It is about 12% of the mass of the
Sun. Last year, astronomers even announced the discovery of an Earth-sized
planet orbiting Proxima Centauri indicating that even very small starts can
have planets. The smallest theoretically possible star would be about 7.5% of
the mass of the Sun. Any smaller and it could not support fusion reactions. For
more on small stars, go to http://goo.gl/EHBdOX.

Thursday: Jupiter is one fist above the east-southeast horizon at 10 p.m.

Friday: If you want to put
somebody off, tell her or him to wait until Deneb sets. At Ellensburg’s
latitude of 47 degrees, Deneb is a circumpolar star meaning it never goes below
the horizon. At 9:32 p.m., it will be as close as it gets to the horizon, about
two degrees above due north. Watch it reach this due north position about 4
minutes earlier each night.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Saturday: Don't
forget to set you clocks ahead one hour tonight for the annual ritual called
daylight savings. Daylight savings originated in the United States during World
War I to save energy for the war effort. But a recent study by two economists
shows that switching to daylight savings time may actually lead to higher
utility bills. When the economists compared the previous few years of energy
bills in the section of Indiana that just started observing daylight savings,
they discovered that switching to daylight savings cost Indiana utility
customers $8.6 million in electricity. In an even more important consequence of
daylight savings, Stanley Coren of the University of British Columbia
discovered a 7% jump in traffic accidents on the Monday after we "spring
ahead". Blame it on the lost hour of sleep. And, sky watchers will lose
even more sleep because the sky stays light for an additional hour.

Sunday: This
morning’s full moon is in the constellation Leo the lion. While we may refer to
the moon tonight by the boring title, “a full moon in March”, Native Americans
in the eastern United States called this moon the Full Worm Moon. By March, the
temperature has increased enough so the ground starts to thaw and earthworms
make their first appearance. Earthworms attract birds. Northern tribes thought
of the bird connection when they referred to the March full moon as the Full
Crow Moon. Tribes in parts of the country with maple trees call this full moon
the Full Sap Moon. For more full moon names, go to http://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-names.

Monday: “The
crow rises in the southeast,” said spy number one. “I’m sorry. I don’t
recognize that code,” replied spy number two. Spy one exclaimed, “That’s because
it’s not a code, you idiot. I’m talking about the constellation Corvus the
crow.” This very bad spy movie dialogue is to remind you that Corvus had a very
bad life. According to one myth, Corvus brought the god Apollo the news that
his girlfriend was seeing someone else. In a classic case of punishing the
messenger, Apollo turned the formerly beautifully colored crow black. The
box-shaped Corvus is one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the
southeast horizon at 10 p.m.

Tuesday: If
you ask an astrobiologist for the three most likely places to find evidence of
life in the Solar System, other than Earth, they’d probably say Mars, Europa
(“Didn’t they sing “The Final Countdown”?”), and Enceladus. Mars makes sense
because you know scientists have sent a lot of probes there. Astronomers first
discovered strong evidence of a large water ocean on Europa, a moon of Jupiter,
in 1989. However, Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, first piqued
astrobiologists’ interest a few years ago then NASA’s Cassini probe discovered
jets of water containing organic materials shooting out. Five years ago, the
German space agency started a project called Enceladus Explorer, EnEx for
short, to collect sample from deep within Enceladus. For more information on
the Enceladus mission, go to http://goo.gl/VPxzs.
At 8 p.m., Mars is two and a half fists above the west horizon. By 11 p.m., Jupiter
and Europa are about one and a half fists above the east-southeast horizon. By
6 a.m., Saturn and Enceladus are two fists above the south-southeast horizon. By
the way, the Swedish group Europe sang “The Final Countdown”. And they
were “heading for Venus” in the song, not to the worlds of the outer Solar
System. Venus is one fist above the west horizon at 8 p.m.

Wednesday: Many artists have sung the song “Blue Moon”. But few have sung
the song “New Moons”. It goes, in part “New Moons, you saw me standing with 27
others. Rolling around like a barrel. Without close sisters or bothers.” It’s
about the planet Uranus, which orbits the Sun in a rolling motion. Astronomers recently
reviewed old Voyager 2 images and think they may have discovered two more
moons. Standing with the 27 that are already there. Uranus is one fist above
due west at 8:15 p.m., easily visible with binoculars, half way between Venus
and Mars.

Thursday: The group AC/DC sings that “Rock ‘n’ roll ain’t
noise pollution, rock ‘n’ roll ain’t gonna die.” Unfortunately, because of
excess and improper outdoor lighting in cities, even those as small as
Ellensburg, our view of the night sky is gonna die. As plain old ordinary AC
(Astronomy club) would sing: “Bad street lights are light pollution, our night
sky IS gonna die.” Lights that are aimed upward illuminate the atmosphere and obscure
dim objects. To watch an informative and entertaining video about the effects
of light pollution, go to https://goo.gl/UgJK33. To watch ACV/DC
sing “Rock ‘n’ Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution, go to http://goo.gl/dZJ8my.

Friday: Ask
someone which day in March has the same duration day and night. Go ahead, ask
someone. Why are you still reading this? I can wait. If that person said the
first day of spring, they are wrong. Today, three days before the first day of
spring, is the date in which day and night are closest in duration. There are
two main reasons for this. First, the atmosphere acts like a lens, bending
light from the Sun above the horizon when the Sun is actually below the
horizon. This makes the Sun appear to rise before it actually rises and appear
to set after is actually sets. Second, spring starts when the center of the Sun
passes through the point called the vernal equinox. But, the Sun is not a
point. The upper edge of the Sun rises about a minute before the center of the
Sun and the lower edge sets a minute after the center of the Sun. Thus, even if
we didn’t have an atmosphere that bends the sunlight, daytime on the first day
of spring would still be longer than 12 hours.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Saturday: Do
you want to impress your friends by making a star disappear? On Saturday night
at 6:30 p.m., the bright star Aldebaran is right above the first quarter
Moon.The Moon will move closer
and closer to Aldebaran until, about 7:20 when it passes in front of Aldebaran.
Because the dark part of the Moon first block, or occults, Aldebaran, it looks
like the star just vanishes. By about 7:55 p.m., Aldebaran will pop out from
the upper portion of the light side of the Moon. This motion with respect to
the background stars is evidence that the Moon is orbiting the Earth.

Sunday: It’s
getting dark. The last remnant of twilight has disappeared. Suddenly, you notice
a large softly radiant pyramid of light in the western sky. The base of this
ghostly triangle is along the west horizon and the peak stretches two or three
fists above the horizon. It is not really a ghost. It is an effect called the
zodiacal light. This light comes from sunlight reflecting off dust grains in
our solar system. The effect is the most visible when the band of
constellations called the zodiac makes a steep angle with the horizon. You need
a clear dark sky with no haze or light pollution to see the zodiacal light. At
its brightest, the zodiacal light rivals the light of the central Milky Way.
Look for the ghostly patch after twilight for the next few weeks.

Monday: It
is often said that Earth is a water world because about 70% of the Earth’s
surface is covered by water. What would it look like if all that water on the
surface were gathered up into a ball? That “ball” would be about 700 km in
diameter, less than half the diameter of the Moon. The Astronomy Picture of the
day shows us right here https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120515.html.

Tuesday: Two
weeks ago, astronomers announced the discovery of six or seven Earth-sized
planets orbiting the red dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1. Three of these planets are in the
so-called habitable zone of the star, the region where liquid water can exist.
In addition, all seven are thought to be rocky. Before you get all excited
about these being new Earths, realize that astronomers orbiting a distant star
would say our Solar System has three Earth-like planets: Venus, Earth, and
Mars. So “Earth-like” from a distance is not the same as “Earth-like” up close.
Also, these planets are 39 light years way meaning a trip there would take
thousands of years given today’s technology. But, it doesn’t hurt to go to https://goo.gl/uFyUat to learn more
information.

Wednesday: At 7 p.m., Venus is nearly one and a half fists held upright and
at arm’s length above the west horizon and Mars is two and a half fists above
the west-southwest horizon.

Thursday: In
this busy world, it is important to know what time it is. We have many devises
that give us the time. A phone. A computer. A watch. But who has time to build
a phone, computer or even a watch. Not you. But everyone has enough time to
build a simple Sun Clock. All you need is a pencil, a compass and a print out
of the clock template. Go to https://goo.gl/UCrMPE
for more information.

Friday: Jupiter
is nearly one and a half fists above the east-southeast horizon at 10 a.m. By
5:30 a.m., Jupiter is all of the way over into the southwest sky and Saturn is
two fists above the south-southeast horizon.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.